Acorn and squirrel RDA activities.

It's been a busy couple of riding sessions on Wednesdays, we have only had three of the 12.30 pm riders as a couple of the riders have been unable  to attend the sessions for various reasons.

I have been working on getting the riders to improve their steering and stopping and turning across the arena. They also have been trotting, I got them to do sitting trot,they worked very hard at relaxing into the saddle and sitting tall. One rider was trying so much that she forgot to keep breathing so I kept reminding her to breathe.

Last week I did an obstacle course with them. I set up a line of cones for them to weave through down one side,then they turned at A and walked to X in the middle of the arena and stopped between two cones that had trays on poles in,there were items on the tray,which they had to place an item from one tray to the other tray. Then they had to walk to C and turn the other way around the arena, walking to B then at B they had to do a half 10m circle around to X, stop and count to 5 before walking on a half 10m circle around to E which is opposite B. They did this a couple of times on the lead rein and then I got them to do the whole course off the lead rein,with someone walking beside them. They did really well and showed some very good stopping, steering and managing the reins while moving the item from one tray to the other.


One of my riders from the Wednesday ride, Zuzanna did a picture for the RDA Arts and Crafts Competition, it was entered for the regional competition which she won,it then went on to the RDA National Championships at Hartpury ,where her picture not only won the class it was also overall winner of the picture competition and she was awarded the Genevieve Raphael Trophy.

It was titled  ' Nearly there'.

Relief coaching at an RDA session.

I was asked to go and instruct at an RDA session the other day at a group because the normal instructor was not able to take the session that day. This was ideal as they have a trainee instructor called Jackie with this session, I was able to to go over various things with her,allowing her to gain some experience in taking an RDA session,as we are working towards her being assessed to take this session on her own.

Because the session is held at a riding school there was a lesson going on before we could get into the arena,we didn't have any time to really set up the arena with much equipment,there was 4 blue jumping blocks in there so we put them in a straight line down one side allowing about 5 paces between them.

The blocks were used in the following ways.

The riders were first asked to walk by them and stop at each block.
Then they were asked to count to a number while they were standing still before walking on.
Then the riders were asked to weave in and out of the blocks.
To add to the weaving between the blocks,the riders were asked to stop by each block making sure they stopped to the left of one block and to the right of the next block.
Adapting this further the riders were asked to count to a number when they were stopped.

I then got Jackie to think up another way of using the blocks for the next two riders.
She came up with the idea of putting the four block to make a large square, the riders were asked to walk around the outside of the square.
Then they were asked to stop by each block.
Jackie then got them to count while they were stopping at the blocks.
Another Idea using  this Jackie came up with was to get the riders to do a circle around the block then walk to the next block and do a circle around that one and so on.
Adapting this exercise the riders were asked to do a circle around a block then walk to the next block and halt beside it ( counting to a number can be added if so wished) then walking to next block and doing a circle around that block,then halting at the next one.
The above can be changed to do a circle around 2 blocks and halt at the third one.
The riders could be asked to stop at each block and then asked a horse care question before walking on to the next block.

All the riders did some good steering and really seem to enjoy their riding today, interacting well with their helpers and Jackie came up with some good lesson ideas.

Last rides at Chard RDA Ilton's ride.

The last riding sessions of the Chard RDA at Ilton have been very busy for all the riders. They have all been working very hard on riding independently in both walk and trot.

     

  We were very lucky to have had several girls from the local pony club coming to volunteer at RDA as they are working towards gaining their bronze Duke of Edinburgh award. They have been really good working with the riders and helping them to improve their riding skills. I have been getting them to plan how the equipment could be laid out in the arena as it was good to get their input and ideas.

  They did a good design with poles one session, they used 8 poles and placed the poles in the shape of a cross using 2 poles together so the riders had to walk between them, 2 sets were placed on the centre line and 2 sets placed along the middle, there was lots of different options with this that I could do.

The riders have been doing quite a bit off the lead rein, walking through poles and around the blocks, they have been trotting off the lead rein as well, I only let them trot down the long side, although they had to trot at a letter and walk at another letter, I wanted them to practice being accurate. They are all trotting much better and not holding on to the handle that's attached to the saddle, which means their balance is getting better.

We had chard's other ride from Crewkerne join us for one ride, we had a competition for the riders in which we did an obstacle course, three of my riders rode with three of the other ride, then we swapped riders and the rest rode. While the riders rode the others waiting did a quiz that I had made up for them, there was also some nibbles to be eaten, all the riders did well, they all got rosettes at the end of it and had a lovely time. 

   The riders from the other ride were presented with their grade 1 and 2  riding and horse care proficiency test certificates, as I had gone to their riding sessions during the summer and tested them for the grades.

The riders showing off their awards after the competition held between the riders from the Ilton and Crewkerne riders.
 Below are the riders from the Crewkerne section showing off their certificates.

 

We had a good last ride of the year, all the riders rode well and did some good steering around the arena and through the poles and blocks, they also rode off the lead rein for a lot of the session, I was pleased as they were starting to really be aware of the other riders in the arena by slowing down or stopping so they didn't crash into each other.
 

    I couldn't believe that this was the last riding session of the year as it seemed to have gone very quickly. After the ride we all went across to the local pub and had a meal, I had scampi and chips which was really nice, I wasn't allowed to pay for my meal by the parents of the riders, they wanted to treat me to say thank you for coming and teaching the riders, it's the little things like this which shows that it's all well worth while and that it is appreciated.





 

Forde Abbey's last rides of the year.

Now that the evenings are dark as the clocks have changed my RDA sessions at Forde Abbey,for the chard RDA group have finished for the summer.

We were very lucky as the last couple of riding sessions were able to go ahead as the weather stayed dry, in spite of the forecast saying that it might rain.

I had all four riders for one of the sessions,so again I had the girls for the first half hour, followed by the boys for the second half hour. We were working on balance and steering again, the helpers encouraged the riders to use their reins to steer the ponies around some cones which were placed along the long sides in the arena. Asking them to steer around these cones and getting the ponies to stop beside them ment they where not holding on to the front of the saddle, I made up an obstacle course using what was in the arena.

  They started one side of the arena and had to steer through the row of cones, next they had to turn and walk up the middle, through the ' tunnel ' ( poles on the ground) making sure they lent forwarded so as not to hit their head on the roof of the tunnel, next they had to steer around a 'roundabout ', then they had to collect a bean bag and carry it up to me. As we had no bucket the riders had to stop their ponies and place the bean bag on top of my head, this is one advantage to being small, everyone had a chuckle about this and some helpers even said it was good for the deportment, it wasn't easy attempting to keep the bean bag on the head, when it wasn't placed right on the top.(I think a photo was taken of this, which I bet will be placed in the chard RDA newsletter.)

 After this the riders had to trot down to the end. 

 The last session of the year, we only had two of the riders as the other two couldn't come, so the riders were able to have a longer session, we did more work on steering and stopping and walking on.

They both wanted to do another obstacle course, so this time, they started by steering through a row of cones then they had to collect a ring from one pole and place it on the next pole, then they had to stand between two buckets and take out a toy from one bucket swap it into the other hand,still making sure they were holding the reins and then place it in the other bucket, then they had to walk the pony around a 'roundabout', walk through a 'tunnel' and over a 'bridge' ( both made up of two poles on the ground.) then they had to trot down the long side.

    We also did some races, these were, bending up and back through the cones, taking a bean bag up to a bucket and placing it in there, walking up and trotting back. Walking up the the other end carrying a bean bag and with the bean bag in one hand put it around their back and into the other hand and bring it around to the front, then walk back.

While we were doing this the toys were naughty and got out of their bag and went around edge of the arena, so the riders and helpers had to go and hunt for them and see how many they could find.

 When they had got them all they brought them back, then counted them to see who had found the most.

Some Pole Idea's.

I was going through some old paperwork, when I came across some idea's for using poles in riding sessions which came from a RDA Instructors training day several years ago, so I thought I would share them, they can be adapted to suit your riders abilities.

Most of these idea's only need a few poles.

1.  Make 'Roads', 'Tunnels', 'Rivers' and 'Bridges' by using two poles and get the riders to walk between them, the 'Roads' can  be straight or in a zig zag. It could be a short or long 'Road'.
     When the riders are walking through the tunnel they could lean forward, again there could be more than one 'tunnel' to go through. For the 'Rivers' get the riders to say splish splash and as they go over the 'Bridge' they could sit up and look over the bridge.

2. Make shapes with the poles on the ground, then using matching cards with shapes on the rider can pick a shape and go and stand in the matching shape. A variation is to have a bucket in the shapes and so riders can place something in the bucket of their chosen shape.

3.Riders can stop between two poles, which can be narrow or wide. A variation is to get the rider to count to a number before walking on. The rider could be asked to walk over one pole and halt before the horse walks over the second pole, the distance could be altered to make it more challenging for the rider.

4.Riders could be given a coloured item and then they walk over/ through the matching coloured poles and put in the matching coloured bucket. This is good for colour association and also encouraging interaction between helpers and the riders.

5.Place two poles either side of  X , get riders to stop between the poles, then progress to doing a 10m circle around to B and back to X, then progress the exercises to do a 10m circle around to E. This can be adapted to halting at X each time, counting to a number before walking on.

6.Place poles to make a square, allowing gaps at the corners, ask the riders to walk over a pole and then over the next pole in front of them. The variations to this are asking the rider to turn left or right,after walking over the first pole, to walk over the other poles. Ask the riders to walk over a pole then through a gap in the corners or vice versa.

7. Using your square of poles ask the riders to walk around the out side of them in the shape of a square or in the shape of a circle.

8.Ask the riders to walk through the corners across the square to the opposite corner.
A variation to this ask the riders to halt in the square.

9. On the theme of the square use two poles on each side, so riders can walk between the poles on each side of the square. the variations to this exercise are asking the riders to halt between one set of poles, then increasing it to two sets and so on. Ask the riders to halt between one set of poles, walk through the next set and halt through the next set.

10. Place the poles on a 20m circle, ask the riders to walk over the poles to make the shape of a circle. the variations to this is to ask the riders to walk on the outside of the poles while walking the circle, or walk on the inside of the poles while on the circle.


These are just a few ideas, which can be adapted further. They  all  help to improve the walk to halt transition's, the riders balance. Some of these exercises could be used for trot to walk transitions.

The Magic of the Horse.

I have just been looking on the web and came across this interesting article which seems to explain the value of therapy riding which could be of use to an instructor/coach new to teaching or coaching the disabled rider.  

Please read this as it explains why therapy riding is so good.    
It's "The magic of the Horse"






The magic of the horse.

Acorn and squirrels session update.

It has been very busy in the riding session over the last couple of weeks, all the riders have been attending, the new rider that has joined the 12.30pm session is doing really well,he has ridden with another group in the past so is quite use to horses and the movement that they give.

The weather has been quite warm and dry so it has made everyone seem happy which is always nice. We have been lucky enough to have some university students come and help us,some have been with us last year,so it's always nice to see them again,most of them ride with the university riding club,so it's nice that they are prepared to help and see how much pleasure and therapy the riders get out of their riding.

The riders have all been working very hard, they have been practicing steering through the cones and stopping at the letters around the arena, I have been getting them to think about keeping a distance between their horse that they are riding and the horse in front of them, they are just starting to get this really well.

I have three riders in the 12.30pm ride that are really doing well with their steering and so I have been getting the leaders to hold the lead rein in their hand furthest from the horse, letting the hand and arm closest the the horse just hang down, so that the lead rein will only be used if necessary, so the riders could do all their own steering down through the cones, they did this a number of times changing direction as well. I then suggested that perhaps they could try and go down the cones off the lead rein with the leader walking beside them. They agreed to do it although it was visible that even though nothing much had changed and they had happily gone down the cones pretty much on their own already,they were worried, they attempted it and all three of them did it first time through the cones, their faces changed completely and they were chuffed with themselves. 

   To a lot of my able-bodied riders that wouldn't have seemed very much walking through a line of 5 cones like that, to these riders it is a great achievement. Saying this one of the rider travels on her own by bus to the riding session each week,so she not only learns how to ride a horse, she learns other life skills in a way which is enjoyable to her.

   

Acorn and squirrel's rda

Today as being Wednesday means its Acorn and squirrels day.
I got there for 12pm today as I was going to be teaching the first ride as Sue who normally takes it was away, all six riders were there today.
They are all really good at getting on, even Gail who is quite severely disabled is able to get on quite well, with the fact our mounting block is able to move up and down, it is also large enough to have a wheelchair on. ( We did a lot of fundraising to be able to have it made as having hydraulics it cost a lot of money.)
  I don't often teach these riders, today I got them doing lots of stretching exercises, stopping and starting at letters around the school, I also got them steering around cones and changing direction across the school.
  I also gave them rings that they had to place on cones around the school, which made them bend and stretch down towards the cone on the ground.  Gail made me smile today, as she was very determined that she was going to place the ring on the cone on her own, she even told me that I wasn't allowed to lift up the cone to help her. She did it. I got the riders to place the ring on the cone first using one hand and next time using the other hand.
  We finished off the ride having a race down the school, they had to stop on the B - E line and stretch for their horse's ears and tail before carrying on to finish.

In the second session we had only three riders today as one was away, I got them to do a lot of steering through  cones and a lot of stopping which is working on improving their balance.
I got these riders to place the rings on cones as well.
I was really impressed with Roxy today as her legs are really beginning to relax down more and her balance has improved no end.

Chatting to Roxy and her carer today about Roxy being on the radio article, she told me that she is doing work experience as a radio presenter  with Seale-hayne, as they have their own radio station. I shall need to listen before next week to it.

Tonight I filled out the form and wrote out a cheque for the RDA coaching conference which is being held at Warwickshire college at the beginning of November. The provisional programme looks good, more on this another time when its confirmed,
shall post it off in the morning on the way to work. 

The Curious Incident of the dog in the night-time.

I've just finished reading this book.

        The Curious Incident of the dog in the night-time.
                By Mark Haddon.

It was a really good book , it is based on a young person aged 15 with Asperger's Syndrome, having to deal with everyday living.

Having had many riders with Asperger's and Autism over the time teaching RDA, I can relate to many of the traits described in the book.

It is a murder mystery in a completely different context to others. I can recommend it, not only as a good novel to read, as an excellent insight to the issues faced by people with Asperger's / autism, coping in the society in which they find themselves in.

If you ever get the chance to  read this book then do, you wont regret it, you never know you just might learn something. Even if it is that everyone has something that they can offer in their own way.

Tuesday's Activites

Today before work I listen again to the article about Acorn and Squirrels RDA  that was on radio Devon last Thursday morning, on iplayer radio. I decided to post a link on to both my Facebook page and on twitter, I was really impressed as no sooner had I put it on to twitter than it was retweeted by someone - a true case of networking in action.

Today I went to Forde abbey to teach the younger riders of chard RDA group, all four riders were there today, there was no rain in sight today so that was good.
I had the two girls first followed by the two boys in the next half hour. These riders all need three helpers with each of them, one person leading and being in charge of the pony and two side helpers looking after the rider on the pony.

Today I was carrying on with what we have been doing the last couple of sessions.
I was getting them to stop by cones and count to a number before asking the pony to walk on to the next cone to do the same at that cone. they also were practicing steering around the cones first to the left and then to the right of the cones.
I then got them to place rings on a cone, first using their left hand then next time with their right hand, each cone was a different colour and so the rider was asked what colour they wanted, so as to practice speaking and interacting as this something we are working on with the riders, the counting is also helping with this.

To get the girls to sit up as straight as they can I tell them that  they need to sit up as if they are top models, to get the boys to sit up I tell them that they need to sit up as if they are soldiers which seems to work very nicely.

To finish I was getting the riders to name parts of the ponies that they were sitting on and simple parts of the saddle and bridle as I am hoping to arrange for someone to come and see if they are good enough to be awarded their RDA grade one certificate and badge at the next session as it will soon be time to finish for the summer as  the clocks will soon be going back and it will be dark in the evenings.

It has been a busy week for me with RDA activites.

Thursday  12th September.
Today I had some calls to make to sort out a few Problems that a group had with Instructors and riders, which after some discussions of the various solutions possible, were sorted.

In the evening I drove to Ilton which is near to Ilminster to teach the chard RDA ride there, they are a group of teenagers, that I have been teaching for several years now,
they were all their normal chatty selves tonight.
I am working on getting them off the lead rein in walk and trot at the moment,which
can be a bit hair raising at times. I got them to stop between poles on the ground and steer between blocks off the lead rein. One or two of them were having 'brake' problems.
Jamie, which is one of riders, wanted to know why there was a 'x' marked on the wall of the arena when it is in the middle of the arena, I explained to him that it was there for people that didn't know where 'x' was, to help them find it when they were riding down the centre line.
It was nearly dark when I got home, just a fortnight ago it had been light when I got home just goes to show that the nights are drawing in and winters just around the corner.

Monday 16th September.
Today I went back up to Ilton to teach Lauren and Jason, these are my two riders from chard RDA, who went to the Paralympics last year and got inspired to do more, so over the winter I went up and did extra coaching with them, they went to the regionals in Cornwall in June and came 1st and 2nd in their dressage class, which everyone in the group was very pleased with. next years aim is to qualify for the RDA nationals.
I got them working hard this evening on their trotting and circles.
Tonight it was dark when I arrived back home, it was very cloudy tonight which didn't help.

Tuesday 17th September.
Today I was meant to go and take the chard RDA session at Forde abbey, unfortunately it was raining and as we are outside and the riders are not very old, the decision was to cancel it as the ponies even though they are very good wouldn't be happy with the wind and rain, It has only been the second one that we have cancelled this summer so far.

Wednesday 18th September.
Acorn and squirrels ride in Exeter this lunch time, all the riders were there today, it was a busy session at 12.30pm, as we had Matt Woodley from radio Devon, come to see what we do in the riding sessions, he also interviewed some of the riders, carers and  the helpers for his radio programme the next day, as radio Devon are supporting a charity that had just recently given our group some money. It was a bit daunting attempting to teach riders with someone holding a microphone close beside you, still I managed it, hopefully it will show everyone what RDA is all about.
We have a space now in our 12.30 session as one of our riders is now not able to ride with us due to other commitments, we do have a waiting list of people wishing to ride with us, so it will soon be filled, Sue who has the list is going to get in contact with them, one or two have been waiting for some time so it will be a case of seeing if they still wish to ride or are still able too.

Thursday 19th September.
Got up to listen to Radio Devon, turned the radio on only to hear the last few minutes of the interviews,I could just make myself out in the back ground, thank goodness for BBC iplayer, I was able to listen later in the day, it was a good article hopefully something will come from it for both the group and the charity the radio is supporting.